Commonly Used Terms

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Understanding Credentialing

This page contains definitions of commonly used terms and acronyms that you may run across while browsing this website or throughout the process of obtaining and maintaining DANB certification. These definitions should also help clarify commonly confused terms in the dental assisting industry, such as licensure, registration and certification.

Commonly Used Terms

The voluntary process by which a nongovernmental agency grants a time-limited recognition to an institution, organization, business or other entity after verifying that it has met predetermined and standardized criteria.

An applicant is an individual who declares interest in earning a credential offered by a certification program, usually through a request for information and the submission of materials. See "Candidate."

CDPMA is the acronym for Certified Dental Practice Management Administrator. DANB discontinued accepting CDPMA applications on May 31, 2008. However, DANB continues to recognize those who have earned and continue to maintain the CDPMA certification by meeting DANB's recertification requirements.

A certificate of attendance or participation is issued after an individual attends or participates in a particular meeting or course. Usually, there is no knowledge assessed prior to issuing this type of certificate. A certificate of attendance or participation is not a credential, because the recipients are not required to demonstrate competence according to professional or trade standards.

A certificate of knowledge-based competence exam tests a relatively narrow scope of knowledge used to perform duties within a specific profession. This scope is determined by either job analysis or subject matter experts. Those with certificates of knowledge-based competence may display their certificates, but they have not earned initials to use after their names, nor can they say they are certified or have earned certification. Certificates of knowledge-based competence do not need to be renewed.

A certificate program is a training program on a topic for which participants receive a certificate after attendance and/or completion of the coursework. Some programs also require successful demonstration of attainment of the course objectives. One who completes a professional certificate program is known as a certificate holder. A credential is usually not granted at the completion of a certificate program. There are three types of certificate programs: knowledge-based certificate, curriculum-based certificate and certificate of attendance or participation. (Please see these individual terms for definitions.)

1. A process, often voluntary, by which individuals who have demonstrated the level of knowledge and skill required in the profession, occupation, role or skill are identified to the public and other stakeholders.

2. The voluntary process by which a nongovernmental entity grants a time-limited recognition and use of a credential to an individual after verifying that he or she has met predetermined and standardized criteria. It is the vehicle that a profession or occupation uses to differentiate among its members, using standards, sometimes developed through a consensus-driven process, based on existing legal and psychometric requirements.

A certification board is a group of individuals appointed or elected to govern one or more certification programs as well as the certification agency, and is responsible for all certification decision-making, including governance.

COMSA is the acronym for Certified Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Assistant. DANB discontinued offering the national COMSA certification exam in 2000. However, DANB continues to recognize those who have earned and continue to maintain the COMSA certification by meeting DANB's recertification requirements.

Continuing Dental Education (CDE) consists of educational activities designed to review existing concepts and techniques; convey information beyond the basic dental assisting education and training; and update knowledge on advances in scientific, clinical, and nonclinical practice-related subject matter, including evidence-based dentistry. The objective is to improve the clinical knowledge of the individual to provide the highest quality of service to the public and the profession. All CDE should strengthen the habits of critical inquiry and balanced judgment that are associated with the truly professional and scientific person and should make it possible for new knowledge, as it becomes available, to be incorporated into the practice of dental assisting.

Credentialing is the umbrella term that includes the concepts of accreditation, licensure, registration and professional certification. Credentialing can establish criteria for fairness, quality, competence and/or safety for professional services provided by authorized individuals, for products or educational endeavors. Credentialing is the process by which an entity, authorized and qualified to do so, grants formal recognition to, or records the recognition status of individuals, organizations, institutions, programs, processes, services or products that meet predetermined and standardized criteria.

A curriculum-based certificate is issued after an individual completes a course or series of courses and passes an assessment instrument. The content of the assessment is limited to the course content and, therefore, may not be completely representative of professional practice (and, consequently, it is not as defensible to use this or the knowledge-based type of certificate for regulatory purposes as compared to a professional certification).

A person with Emeritus status is one who is retired from or, for medical reasons, no longer employed in a dental office or dental assisting position but who is permitted to retain, as an honorary title, the rank or credential last held.

A governing committee is a group of individuals appointed or elected to formulate and implement policy related to certification program operation. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) uses this term to denote those committees that are given complete authority over all essential certification decisions.

Grandfathering is the process by which individuals are granted certification without being required to meet a formal examination requirement. This process is frequently invoked when a certification program is initiated, as a way of recognizing the experience and expertise of long-term experts, and/or to allow grandfathered individuals to develop the initial form(s) of the certification examination. Individuals initially certified through grandfathering may, in the future, be required to pass a form of the certification examination they did not participate in developing in order to maintain certification.

A high-stakes exam is one in which the outcome has significant consequences for individuals. This includes tests required to graduate from high school, college and graduate school admissions tests, and credentialing (licensure, registration and certification) examinations.

Therefore, any exams used to meet state licensure or registration requirements are considered "high stakes," because passing such exams allows individuals to perform professional duties as prescribed by state or federal regulatory bodies.

The Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE), formerly NOCA, is a nonprofit professional membership association that provides education, networking and other resources for organizations and individuals who work in and serve the credentialing industry. ICE's accrediting body, the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), evaluates certification organizations for compliance with the NCCA Standards for the Accreditation of Certification Programs. ICE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute as a Standards Developer.

Any of several methods, used singly or in combination, to identity the performance domains, associated tasks and clinical knowledge relating to the purpose of the credential and to provide the basis for validation.

A knowledge-based certificate recognizes a relatively narrow scope of specialized knowledge used in performing duties or tasks required by a certain profession or occupation. This certificate is issued after the individual passes an assessment instrument.

Licensure is the mandatory process by which a governmental agency grants time-limited permission to an individual to engage in a given occupation after verifying that he/she has met predetermined and standardized criteria, and offers title protection for those who meet the criteria.

A professional membership or trade association is usually a nonprofit organization working for the advancement of a particular profession. DANB is not a membership organization. DANB is the nationally recognized certification organization for dental assistants. In 1980, DANB separated from its parent, the American Dental Assistants Association (ADAA). Although no longer directly related, DANB maintains an excellent relationship with the ADAA, other membership organizations and state dental boards.

A psychometrician is a practitioner of psychometrics: an individual who normally holds a doctoral degree in measurement or a discipline of psychology (such as educational or industrial/organizational psychology) who can understand, apply and describe the science and technology of mental measurement.

To publish is to make information available in hard copy, electronic or web-based formats and easily accessible and available on request. The degree of accessibility may be a function of the level of confidentiality of the information.

1. The process by which a governmental agency grants a time-limited status on a registry, determined by specified knowledge-based requirements (e.g., experience, education, examinations), thereby authorizing those individuals to practice, similar to licensure. Its purpose is to maintain a continuous record of past and current occupational status of that individual, and to provide title protection.

2. A listing of practitioners maintained by a governmental entity, without educational, experiential or competency-based requirements, e.g., maintaining a list of practitioners on a state "registry."

3. A professional designation defined by a governmental entity in professional regulations or rules. However, the governmental regulatory body does not itself maintain a listing or registry of those who purport to meet registration requirements. Verification and authentication of such individuals are left to the employer of the individual claiming to be registered.

Stakeholders are the various groups with an interest in the quality, governance and operation of a certification program, such as the public, certificants, candidates, employers, customers, clients and third-party payers.